..续本文上一页be able to build a house with them. We couldn”t make planks or anything of use in building a house. However, if a carpenter came along wanting to build a house, he would go looking for trees such as these. He would take this raw material and use it to advantage. In a short time he could have a house built.

　　Meditation and developing the heart are similar to this. You must take this untrained heart, the same as you would take a tree in its natural state in the forest, and train this natural heart so that it is more refined, so that it”s more aware of itself and is more sensitive. Everything is in its natural state. Wen we understand nature, then we can change it, we can detach from it, we can let go of it. Then we won”t suffer anymore.

　　The nature of our heart is such that whenever it clings and grasps there is agitation and confusion. First it might wander over there, then it might wander over here. When we come to observe this agitation, we might think that it”s impossible to train the heart and so we suffer accordingly. We don”t understand that this is the way the heart is. There will be thought and feelings moving about like this even though we are practicing, trying to attain peace. That”s the way it is.

　　When we have contemplated many times the nature of the heart, then we will come to understand that this heart is just as it is and can”t be otherwise. We will know that the heart”s ways are just as they are. That”s its nature. If we see this clearly, then we can detach from thoughts and feelings. And we don”t have to add on anything more by constantly having to tell ourselves that "that”s just the way it is." When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything. Thinking and feeling will still be there, but that very thinking and feeling will be deprived of power.

　　This is similar to a child who likes to play and frolic in ways that annoy us, to the extent that we scold or spank him. We should understand that it”s natural for a child to act that way. Then we could let go and leave him to play in his own way. So our troubles are over. How are they over

　　 Because we accept the ways of children. Our outlook changes and we accept the true nature of things. We let go and our heart becomes more peaceful. We have "Right Understanding."

　　If we have wrong understanding, then even living in a deep, dark cave would be chaos, or living high up in the air would be chaos. The heart can only be at peace when there is "Right Understanding." Then there are no more riddles to solve and no more problems to arise.

　　This is the way it is. You detach. You let go. Whenever there is any feeling of clinging, we detach from it, because we know that that very feeling is just as it is. It didn”t come along especially to annoy us. We might think that it did, but in truth it is just that way. If we start to think and consider it further, that too, is just as it is. If we let go, then form is merely form, sound is merely sound, odour is merely odour, taste is merely taste, touch is merely touch and the heart is merely the heart. It”s similar to oil and water. If you put the two together in a bottle, they won”t mix because of the difference in their nature.

　　Oil and water are different in the same way that a wise man and an ignorant man are different. The Buddha lived with form, sound, odour, taste, touch and thought. He was an Arahant (Enlightened One), so He turned away from rather than toward these things. He turned away and detached little by little since He understood that the heart is just the heart and thought is just thought. He didn”t confuse and mix them together.

　　The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are! Let form be just form, let sound be just sound, let thought be ju…

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